To be capable of steady friendship or lasting love, are the two greatest proofs, not only of goodness of heart, but of strength of mind.

Staying close to someone over years asks for more than warmth. It asks for the steadiness to keep choosing a person after the novelty is gone, after you have seen the unflattering parts, after they have disappointed you. Kindness gets you through the first season. What carries the rest is a kind of mental durability: the willingness to stay interested, to repair, to not keep a ledger.

Think of one relationship you have let thin out through nothing worse than drift. Make the small unglamorous move this week: the message, the call, the invitation with a date in it. Steadiness is built from repetitions that feel too minor to matter.